Will we be able to survive the sun's explosion if
we have the right equipment in the future?

Question Date: 2018-11-06

Answer 1:

If our sun explodes in the future - and
this is only one possibility out of several
possibilities - it would produce what we call a
supernova

A supernova ejects most of the material
from the star and shows up very brightly
compared to the brights things around it. The
temperature of such an event can reach up to 6,000
times the temperature of the sun's core, or
equivalent to about 160 billion degrees
Fahrenheit! If we want to survive this event
without leaving our system, we would need
something to shield us from this extremely
high temperature, not to mention all the radiation
that would come from the explosion.

If, however, our sun does not explode, but instead
expand into a red giant and then shrink to
a white dwarf (according to astronomers, this
is the more likely case for our sun), then the
temperature of its surface would first reach about
5,000 degrees Celsius, or 8,000 to 9,000 degrees
Fahrenheit, and this surface would reach Earth
because the sun is expanding. Again, if we have
not left Earth, then whatever equipment we have
must be able to withstand this temperature,
in other words, not melt and not transmit the heat
so we can survive by using the equipment to
shield ourselves.

If, by the time the sun starts declining, we have
the means by which to leave the solar system and
to colonize other planets, then we (meaning
humanity in general, and whatever
animals/plants/microbes we choose to take with us)
would be able to survive the expansion or
explosion by not being here.